"Good day, sir," the veteran said. He didn't come to ramrod attention, the way he would have for one of his own officers-the Germans were devils for discipline, even by the tough standards of the U.S. Navy-but he wasn't far from it. One of his own officers probably wouldn't have deigned to talk with him at all.

"We should stay friends, your country and mine, eh?" Sam said.

"Jawohl, mein Herr!" the petty officer said. He translated that for his pals. They all nodded. Sam got out a pack of cigarettes. He offered them to the Germans. The tobacco was as good as prewar, imported from the CSA. All the Germans took a cigarette or two except one man who apologetically showed him a clay pipe to explain why he didn't. "Danke," the petty officer said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Carsten raised his mug. "Let's stay friends."

Again, the petty officer translated. Again, his men solemnly nodded. They all drank with Sam. A couple of the Americans came over. One spoke a little German, about as much as the petty officer spoke English. A couple of hours passed in a friendly enough way-especially since the tapman had the sense to stop charging the Germans. But Sam knew he would have to draft a report when he got back to the O'Brien. He suspected the German petty officer would be doing the same thing on the S135.

Friends? he thought. Well, maybe. He eyed the capable-looking German sailors. The fellow with the clay pipe sent up a cloud of smoke. Maybe friends, yeah. But rivals? Oh, you bet. Rivals for sure.

W inter, spring, summer, fall-they didn't matter much in the Sloss Works. It could be snowing outside-not that it snowed very often in Birmingham, Alabama-but it would still be hell on earth on the pouring floor in the steel mill.

Jefferson Pinkard shook his head. Sweat ran down his face. It was hot as hell in here, no doubt about that. But he'd seen hell on earth fighting the Red Negro rebels in Georgia, and again, worse, fighting the damnyankees in the trenches in west Texas. You could hurt yourself-you could kill yourself-right here, but nobody was trying to do it for you.